Me, Myself & I

Rodolph Nasillski started acting when he was 10 and trained in theatre and audiovisual.

At 17, he directed Harold Pinter's A Slight Ache. Since the he has been dedicating himself exclusively to direction, both theatrical (Huis Clos by Jean-Paul Sartre) and audiovisual (Un Pont Plus Loin or Aides vs Aids).

His work in theatre led him to large-scale show with Like A Black Movie, created in Burkina Faso and he has made it his speciality as a director and writer, with The Departure in 2000, Freedom in 2004, the project of West Side Story at Stade de France in 2013, Those Are My Sons in Kuwait in 2016 and Coming Out in Paris 2018 to name just a few of the fifty or so shows he created.

But the large-scale shows don't keep him away from the theatres, where he continues to direct both theatre (Tennessee Williams' The Night Of The Iguana) and music (Lys & Steve Hewitt-Placebo European Tour in 2018 and 2019). He often brings them together as he did when he created the musical Leaving Now! performed for the French National Television.

More recently, he created the musical play Sounds Of Xmas with Chassol, as well as I Took The Floor, a contemporary circus piece that he wrote and directed for BIAC 2021 (International Performing Arts Biennial), and the immersive play Hegra After Dark, in 2023 in AlUla, a Unesco World Heritage.

Today, he works on his comeback to theatre with a new direction while developing CORE, an immersive show mixing cinema and theatre scheduled for spring 2025.

Statement

"As far back as I can remember, I have always told stories. Like everyone I guess, but I have never stopped. Very early on, I became an actor to tell them at theatre, but when I directed my very first play, I discovered my way. Whether it’s at a theatre, a concert hall, a stadium or on a street, I keep doing what I would do when I was a kid, telling stories to everyone who wants to listen to them.

While studying drama, I pushed flight cases and drove bands on the roads. I was a stage and a production manager; I built stages for the Music Festivals and operated Fireworks for the National Days. Each opportunity to be backstage was worth taking, and I was learning my job. From that time, I have kept the wish to perform on every playground. As soon as there’s a meeting and a story, there’s a promise of pleasure that I don’t want to miss.

After failing the entrance examination for the best French National Film School, I developed my work on large-scale shows and thus discovered the art form that suited me. I make shows that combine live and multimedia arts and produce them for as many people as possible on stages all over the world, or almost, I have no borders or barriers.

The large-scale shows led me to write scripts because it was the only way to direct them. I sketched sets, and I directed pictures because I didn’t always have the means to hire someone to do it. I did it for others too, because it allowed me to work and, above all, to meet other designers.

Today, I keep doing it for my shows when I have the opportunity and I keep offering production companies my services in these fields to meet people I couldn't collaborate with otherwise. Meeting other universes and discovering other ways to do passionate and feed me.

When I support another director, I do it totally, knowing what he lives and giving him the glance and understanding of the director I am. Thanks to this specific approach, I became an Artistic Director too and allowed producers to have the guarantee of their creative vision and the holding of the artistic project.

When I direct, I dedicate myself to the audience. I never forget that there’s something unique about someone who spends time with us while he could have done anything else. We owe him, and we must give more than we can. I consider every new project like the very first one and try to make shows that are intelligent, demanding, and popular.

This eclectic journey, this zigzag path I don’t want to straighten up, is the journey of a kid who has never wanted to stop telling stories and miss an opportunity to do so."

RODOLPH NASILLSKI